School for the Flock
by BalletandBooks
Summary: Looks like it's up to Dr. M to make the flock experience what they missed while fighting to save the world: School. To make it WORSE, public school. I don't own JP or anything. Also, Public school: I go to it, so not that bad. FAX
1. Chapter 1

**This is my second FanFiction, although I'm not done with my first one yet… This is also after it's all over, and Fang never left… But Max, Fang, and Iggy are 17. They're Juniors in HS. **

Max POV

I can't believe that my mom is making us go to school! I mean, seriously, what's the point? We have so much life experience, we shouldn't have to go to school! It's only been three months since we defeated Itex, and I think we (the Flock) deserve a break!

"Not fair, not fair, not fair!" I muttered to myself, pacing in my room. School started tomorrow, and I was POed at the whole thing.

"SHUT UP!" Iggy yelled, from two doors down. How did he hear me… even with his hearing being enhanced, but still?

"Hey." I turned around, expecting an evil thing, only to find Fang.

"Sup Max? Iggy says you're bothering him… by muttering to yourself." He realized what he said, and gave me a confused look. "Wha… but… how?" He stuttered.

"Just forget it," I told him, "Iggy never makes sense anyways."

He looked at me. After we stared at each other, I decided my arms were tired, and I lay down, taking Fang down with me. He looked me in the eyes, and took my hand.

"I know you're nervous" Fang said in his calm, soothing voice, "but it's not like were fighting Itex again. It's high school. No one will know it's us unless we either tell them or they figure it out themselves." He finished, and gave me his half smile. "You're the invincible Max. You can do anything. EVEN high school."

I gave him a sarchastic smile. "And you're Fang, the emo sidekick, who kisses Max and makes her jump off cliffs, causing her to snap out her wings, hurting her back." Fang winced from the memories of all those awkward encounters.

"At least I grew up, and so did Maxie here." Fang gave me a real smile, then a kiss on the lips. "Night Maxie." He said teasingly, and disappeared out of my room.

I collapsed on my bed.

"I love you Fangy."

Fang POV

Did she just say that? Yeah, I guess she did. Well, I hope she's less nervous about school than I am. The only thing I know is that were finally at peace, you know? Were a couple now, and nothing will change that. No more 'red-haired wonders' this time, and I'm glad. Lissa was really annoying. Well, you must be wondering why I have so many thoughts. I'm the silent one. Not in my head, though. Anyways, school freaks me out, so I turn to my man, Iggy.

'Yo Ig." I said, trying to be cool or whatever. "Are you nervous or anything for tomorrow? 'Cause I'm not… no siree bob, not at all." I gave him a nervous giggle.

"Liar" he said, but with a psycho voice. "You're so nervous right now that you're gonna pee your pants, aren't you?"

"Yes I am, I'm so sorry for being a weniee!" I dropped to my knees and grabbed Iggy's ankles. "Please help me!"

Iggy looked at me as if I was a flea.

"You think I can help you?" he said, extremely bemused. "The 6'4 blind pyro with wings is 'gonna help YOU?" He started laughing.

You may be wondering why I'm being so un-Fang like. And it's because I'm with Iggy. He's my bro, like laxer-bros (or pros… not sure) and I open up to him for anything.

"Duuuude! Please! I'm really scared that everyone will think I'm emo and they'll hate me!" I was genuinely worried.

"Fang." Iggy replied in a fatherly tone (a/n where did that come from?) "We'll still love you, even if you ARE emo." He smiled in my general direction. "Night Fang"

3rd Person POV

Fang and Max then proceeded to tuck in Gazzy and Angel, shut up Nudge, and go to bed, in their respective rooms, of course.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks everyone! I got 1,052 hits on my other story!**

Iggy POV

Well, another school, another shot, right? In Virginia, no one knew I was even blind, so when Dr. M told me that these guys knew about my 'situation,' I was jumping for joy (eyes roll).

I got up at 5:45 to get ready for school, so I got dresses in jeans, a tee shirt, and a hoodie. It doesn't matter what color they are because everything matches everything else. I went to the kitchen and made breakfast before Fang or Max were even up. I liked Dr. M's house. After we moved to her old house, she decided that it was too small for all of us, and moved to an old farmhouse in the countryside. After I did a little fixing to the technology (with a little help from Gazzy), it was pretty sweet. When the whole family came to claim their rooms, Dr. M decided to take us to Home Depot and get paint.

_Flashback:_

"_OK guys! Pick a good color, 'cause you'll be living with it for a while." She smiled, and I heard my flock and Ella run off and look at colors. _

"_Iggy, aren't you gonna go look at colors… Oh, I'm so sorry!" she said after seeing me turn my head and clench my jaw. I'm blind. Yay! _

"_Do you want to" she lowered her voice so that only I could hear "feel the colors? We could do anything you want!" She brought her voice back up to regular. _

_I thought about it. _

"_Yeah." I finally said. "I want to splatter paint my room." _

_End Flashback_

I finished eating my bacon and went upstairs to wake up my flock. Since we had defeated the enemy, I had taken to getting everyone up before noon. Because of this whole 'school' thing, everyone had to be up by 6, and to avoid problems, we all showered last night. I got up early… well, I don't know. I always have… since I got… well…. Blinded.

I walked up the stairs, following the railing. The first room was Fang's. I opened the door and felt the black on the walls. Black, the color I was soooo familiar with. Black. I flipped on the lights.

"Wakey Wakey Fang!" I said with false enthusiasm. "You wouldn't want to be late on your first day of school, now would we?" He shifted around, and I heard a muffled voice distinctly say these words.

"Bite me." Gasp! He used my catch phrase!

"Fang, I believe you're the one with the biting capabilities." I walked over to his bed, and grabbed his ponytail. "Get up you lazy butt!" I growled, then dropped the ponytail.

"Bye Fang… Get ready or all the bacon will be GONE!"

Fang POV

Owwch! That was my ponytail! It hurt a lot! Well, I can't resist the bacon! Lets see… Which all black outfit shall I wear today? These skinny jeans, or these skinny jeans? Ooh! This black tee shirt or this polo or this button up or this Jack the Ripper shirt? Well, the Black shirt is kinda boring, but the Jack the ripper is too gory. Both hide my wings well, though. The polo and the button up are too fancy for this. I'll go with the Black tee with the least tight jeans I own and combat boots (duh). Yeah. Emo/Goth, but not too emo/Goth.

Iggy POV

Next door was Max's room. I opened the door and touched the walls. Green, but not like a forest green, more like neon. Apparently, the ceiling of her room was high, so she could fly a little, as were everyone's, and a baby blue. I decided to be nice, because it's the first day of school, and from what Fang told me, she's kinda freaked about it.

"Hey Max… Wakey Wakey!" I said as I turned on the lights. "Ready for school?" She groaned.

"Iggy… Umm… Cough cough. I'm sick. Oh dear. Can I stay home?" She gave a nervous giggle.

"No. Get up or I'll send Gazzy in here after eating your mom's refried red beans. Do you want that?" I heard Max gulp.

"N.n.n.! I'm up!" Max sounded scared, and I heard the sound of covers and clothes being ripped off her body. "Bye Iggy! Save me some bacon!"

I got shoved out the door and into the hallway.

Max POV

Well, we don't want a bean eating Gazzy in my room, now do we, I mean he's not called 'the Gasman' for nothing, now is he? Ok Max, what to wear? So you wanna impress Fang but not make the boys drool, so what? Ooh! Skinny jeans, but not TOO skinny, my combat boots (duh!), my lime green tee shirt, and my leather jacket. I picked it up at a thrift shop while we were in Canada. It's got lots of zippers and pockets. (YAY!) Now for my daily dose of BACON!

Iggy POV

I'm in my room, just to hang for 5 minutes while I grab my 'blind gear'. I honestly don't need it, but just in case, Dr. M had bought me a retractable white stick and some sunglasses (Ray Bans, 'cause the blindy cares what he looks like). I touched my splatter painted walls and found a new color in a new place.

Guess I gotta go wake up Nudge now, everyone's favorite morning avian-human hybrid! Not.

I walked into her room. I knew it was hers because of the walls. Gosh were they fancy. Lots of shades of purple were zigzagged and striped up and down the walls. EPIC WALLS FOR THE BLINDY! Anyways, I walked over to her touched her shoulder.

"Hey Nudge! It's morning!" I said as enthusiastically possible. I can only imagine (literally) the look she must have given me. I received a grunt and the sound of covers being pulled.

"Fine," I said, trying to sound suave, like that Axe guy, "Then you'll miss the first day of school AND bacon." I turned around, then heard a voice, hoarse with sleep, call to me (Ok, that's kinda dramatic.)

"Did you say bacon?" Nudge seemed to be brightening up at the mention of school AND bacon, but mostly bacon.

"Yep, and if you don't hurry, I'll eat it all myself. Hehehe" I walked out, laughing to myself manically about devouring the rest of the flock's bacon.

Nudge POV

Was he just laughing about devouring my bacon? Uh Uh! No man eats MYYYY bacon! Ooh! First day of school! What should I wear? Umm… I want to make the boys DROOL! Not literally, but you get the picture. I got it. Ok, so I'll wear my black, high waist-ed skirt with the chains, my white blouse with the top buttons undone, and my ankle boots. I'll wear a cardigan to cover the wings. Oh yeah, I almost forgot the locket Iggy gave me. It's a pair of wings, and it holds four pictures. One is of Max and Fang, one is Iggy and I, one is Gazzy holding a burrito (don't ask.) and one is Angel and Celeste. I'm ready to be a knockout! (oh yeah. I'm also ready for some bacon)

Iggy POV

I walked into my third favorite room of the house: Gazzy's room. Want to know how I knew I was there? The faint smell of Sulfur. I know it's poisonous, but it doesn't seem dangerous to us. I flipped the lights on, opening my eyes, and letting the light reach them. It feels good, to let my eyes take in the light.

I yelled "Gazzy do you want bacon or broccoli? Answer now or you'll get broccoli instead! Do you hear me?"

Gazzy woke with a start. "Bacon!" he shouted. "Gasp (literal gasp)" He seemed to be sputtering to try and breathe,

"Dude!" Gazzy said, his voice sounding exited. "Best wake up so far!"

"I agree, little G, but seriously, bacon or broccoli?" I asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"BACON!" he shouted, then ran to the corner of the room with the most stuff in it, probably the hamper, to try and find something decent to wear.

I walked out, ready to wake up the baby.

Gazzy POV

Umm… I think I know what I'm going to wear. Camo shorts that come to mid thigh, vans, wrist bands that conceal my bomb making supplies, and my favorite shirt of all time: A tee shirt that has a little bomb graphic and says 'I can haz blow you up!' Spike my hair back, with the black spikes at the top straight up. Now, I'm off to eat my reward for getting up early.

Iggy POV

Now for Angel. She is a morning person, definitely. I walk into her room and turn on the light. I run my hands along her wall, feeling the pink on my fingertips.

"Hey baby! Wake up for the first day of school!" She shifted and I felt her breath become more regular and even.

"Morning Iggy!" I heard her sweet voice say. I smiled at her. "Celeste says good morning too!" I gave her a smile.

"Hurry up so that you aren't late for school… or the bacon." I smiled and left her room.

Angel POV

Mmm… Bacon! Well, I'm really excited about school. I'm gonna be in 4th grade! I hope it's like the school at Anne's house, except without uniforms… or Anne. Anyways, I can't decide what to wear. Hmm… I like this dress. It comes to my mid-thigh and is dark denim. Cool! Wait… Max would NEVER let me wear something like that. Ooh! I got these cute tights from Nudge for my last birthday! And I have that light blue tee shirt… with pink hi-tops! Sweet!

Iggy POV

I came down the stairs after waking my family, and found my kitchen, my precious kitchen, in chaos.


	3. Chapter 3

**Cool! I really like this one!**

Iggy POV

"AAH! What have you done? Does someone care to tell me, because I can't see what's going on down here?"

Finally, Angel, who somehow materialized down next to me explained what had happened.

"Well, Max couldn't find the bacon, so she opened the fridge, but the meat sauce fell so she tried to clean it up. Fang came in and saw her so he tried to help, but it kinda made it worse 'cause he doesn't know how, so when Nudge came in she was all like 'heckles no, I am not cleaning this up' and flew over to the pantry and grabbed soy bacon (a/n delicious), and when Gazzy came in, he saw the chance and ate the refried beans (a/n also delicious), then Max noticed and started yelling, so now there's refried beans, meat sauce, and soy bacon on the floor." She calmly said. I could almost hear the guilt on their faces when Dr. M walked in, followed by Ella.

"What in the name of tamales happened in here?" She said, obviously shocked. "Y'all are gonna clean up this boy's kitchen NOW!" She patted my arm. "You'll be OK, don't worry." Obviously I must've had a pained expression on my face or something, because my heart hurt from this tragedy.

Max POV

OK, not our finest moment, but still… I was nervous, I wanted some bacon, and so what was I supposed to do, be hungry? After cleaning up, Mom made us all apologize to Iggy for ruining his kitchen. Then, we brushed our teeth, said bye to Ella (she'd get there later) grabbed our backpacks, and headed to school.

"I can't believe she made me give you guys bacon." Iggy said, facing the car window.

We were going to a "friends school", or a private school that was kind of a hippie school (a/n no offence to any people who go to a friends school, but the friends school near my house is a hippie school). Fang was driving a pick-up truck that fit three in the front and three in the back. Guess what color it was? Black.

"Yeah, well we have to eat something edible, don't we?" I smirked.

We heard a noise and looked out the window behind Angel, who was sitting in the middle.

"Hey" Gazzy said from the back of the pickup. I could barely make out what he was saying because of the wind rushing around him. "I'm hungry!"

After the refried beans incident, we all decided it would be safer to leave him out there.

"Here we are." Fang said, and turned off the car, hopping to the other side and opening the door for me.

"Thanks!" I said, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Cool." He said, and flashed me a brief smile and turned to the flock. "Let's roll."

We all walked to the office, Gazzy holding hands with Fang, Angel's hand in mine, and Iggy holding the straps of Nudge's backpack. As we walked up the stairs of the building, a few boys made the mistake of flirting with me. Fang noticed and glared at him before kissing me on the lips. The boys stalked off and one stuck out his tongue at him. As Nudge described it, Iggy burst out laughing.

"Ha… I can't believe it… He flirted… then he kissed… oh my gosh!" He said, out of breath.

"Kay guys," I said, serious again. "We gotta do it right here, OK?"

On my lead, we put our fists over each others, our symbol, our flock tradition. We walked into the building and found the office.

"Excuse me. Did Valencia Martinez call about the new students coming today?" I said in my sweet Max voice.

Fang POV

"Yes missy, she certainly did" she said in a Minnesota accent. "Oh, you must be the kids she adopted. Max Ride, Tiffany-Crystal Coleman, Nick Walker, James Griffiths, and Angie and Zephyr Smiths, right?" She paused, and looked at the list again. "Zephyr?" she asked, looking puzzled.

"Yep!" Gazzy said, than with false enthusiasm, added "they were crackheads!" Angel gave her a shy grin.

"Well, here are your schedules." The lady said, smiling. "Y'all may go, except for… James. Someone is coming for you mmkay?" Iggy gave me a look that said 'how pathetic is this?' and stormed to sit on a ugly armchair.

Iggy POV

Ugh. I HATE this! I don't need to do this! I could blow up this whole place if I wanted, but Max was all like 'don't make a scene' so I won't.

**Cool, right? Ok, so the next chapter will be split. That means that each individual section will be simultaneously happening with the other ones. LYA!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yippie! Ok Change of plans: Each character's simultaneous POV till lunch will be written in a separate chapter. Ok?**

Max POV

"Where's your locker?" Fang asked. We had just dropped Angel and Gazzy to their classrooms, with Nudge walking to her class alone, saying she didn't need an escort to go to 9th grade.

"Left wing, number 1707." I told Fang. We walked shoulder to shoulder down the hallway, and he turned to face me. "Cool. See ya whenever we meet again." I grabbed his hand.

"Waaait… Where's your locker?" I looked up at him (Yes… up. Grr)

"Left wing, 1725." He turned around as we arrived at my locker.

"Hey! Don't leave me yet! I have a present for you!" I teased. His eyes lit up.

"A present?" He looked seriously curious as to what this present was. I went on tiptoe and kissed him.

"Happy first day of non lethal school to you!" I told him. He gave me a hug then stalked off to his locker.

I opened my locker and started stuffing various things inside. A few seconds later, I heard a smash and a mean word. I looked at the source and saw a POed Fang standing in front of an open but dented locker. Of course he kicked it.

I grabbed my binder and looked at my schedule. First period: Math. I wandered around the "C" hall looking for C224. After I finally found it, I walked into a dolphin infested room… literally. There were dolphins EVERYWHERE! Well, posters and pictures of them, but isn't that still obsessive or something. Out of habit, I quickly scanned the room for escape routes and possible bomb or gun hiding places. I saw a woman in the back, writing on the Promethean Board (a/n it's like an electronic computer projector like a whiteboard that's connected to the computer).

"Hi… Mrs. Orchards? I'm Max. This is my first day, and I was wondering if there was anything I should know before today." Mrs. Orchards glanced at me, and then she smiled.

"Miss Ride, eh? I've heard of you…" She said, looking me up and down. I gulped, and then scanned her. She didn't look deadly, in her jeans and orange top. "You're Valencia's adopted daughter, huh? And Ella's new sister, eh?" (a/n she has funny words she likes to reuse!) I breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly the bell rang. I jumped at the noise, and then found myself against a wall, pushed by kids coming in.

Mrs. Orchards motioned for me to come forward, and then spoke. "Class, settle, settle, eh? This is Max… mmkay? She's new here, so let's all make her welcome, mmkay?" Some kid snickered in the back. Mrs. O pretended not to hear and continued. "She's Ella's new sister, so let's be nice, huh?" At the mention of Ella, some girls seemed to see me as a better prospect of a person to be nice to. One girl raised her hand.

"Mrs. Orchy?" she said sweetly, "Max can sit with us today!" I looked at the girl. She had big green eyes and long coppery hair. She was surrounded by girls wearing basically the same thing: skinny jeans, Uggs, and hoodies, with little bows or clips on their hair.

"Umm… Ok?" I said, and sat down next to the main girl.

"Hi Max!" She said excitedly. "I'm Loretta." She said with a southern drawl. "How are ya likin' Friends?"

"I… ummm… well…" I stuttered. I honestly didn't care much. She beamed at me.

"Oh, were gonna be the bestest friends, dont'cha think?" she squealed excitedly. Oh LordyLord help me. If this chick kept hugging me, I think I would die.

"Umm… Miss Larsson, I think she gets the picture. Please let Miss ride go now." Mrs. O was looking at Loretta sternly, but kindly.

"Sure Mrs. Orchy! I was just explainin' to her the rules and such."

"Mmkay baby, but it's gotta be quiet now, eh?" She smiled at me. "On to the lesson now, eh?"

The next class I had was Spanish. I quickly scanned the room, as I had for Math, and found the teacher. She was probably around 5"4 and had long brown hair with brown eyes framed with rectangular glasses.

"Hola clase! Como están? Espero que tuvieron un fin de semana fantástico! Ooh! Quien llega aquí? Una estudiante nueva? Ven aquí! Tengo mucho enseñarle!"

I gave her a puzzled expression. "Whaat?" She stared at me blankly, and then realized that I had no idea what she just said.

"Oh. I'm so sorry! Hello. I'm Sra. Gutierr. I just said 'A new student? Come here! I have much to teach you!'" She gave me a warm smile. I smiled back.

"Ok… I mean is!" At least I tried, right.

"You'll have some catching up to do, so I'll give you these review papers so that you can catch up. Your mom is Valencia Martinez, no? She will help you." She gave me a shoulder pat. I spent the rest of the class lost in translation.

My final class before lunch was science. I walked into B122.

"Hi, Mr. Goldshine?" I turned around to see an overweight man (in desperate need of a belt) with white hair and black beard standing up. "I'm in your class now." He smiled at me.

"Hello young lady. Take a seat anywhere you like." Ok, that was a change. I looked around for anyone I knew and saw a Loretta-clone waving at me to sit with her. I gladly took the empty desk and opened my agenda to copy down the homework. Mr. Goldshine cleared his throat loudly.

"Ok class." He boomed. "Today we will begin a unit on DNA recombinant and mutations." I groaned. "Miss… Ride, is it?" I nodded. "Do you have any reason to groan in my class?" The same kid from math snickered. Mr. Goldshine turned his attention to him away from me. "Jason! Were you talking in my class?" He screamed, his voice turning red.

"No sir! I was… coughing! Yeah, couching!" He lied. I knew a lie when I saw it.

"LIES!" Mr. G screeched. "TO THE OFFICE, NOW!" he yelled, and marched Jason out. That was interesting. As soon as he got back, his gaze found me cowering in the back.

"As I was saying, Miss Ride, what is so 'groan-worthy' about DNA recombinant and mutations?" He asked his stern eyes on mine.

"Well, Mr. Goldshine," I said carefully, a master liar, "I already studied this in my old school, and was disappointed that I wouldn't be challenged enough." I smiled sweetly. I was crossing my fingers under the desk. He stared at me for a moment, then turned around and faced the rest of the class.

"Very well…" He said, and let us talk the rest of the class. When the bell rang announcing lunch, I was practically flying (almost!) out the door to my locker. I grabbed my lunch and headed to the lunch courtyard, where we agreed to meet.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the delay! Iggy sits near me in Math! Not really, but this kid who is tallish and has blonde hair that covers his eyes does! His eyes are gray, green, blue, or a mix. They're COOL!**

Fang POV

I got my present from Max and walked down the hall to my locker. I tried to open it with my locker with the combo from the office: 13-37-3, but it didn't budge. Some random guy walked down the hallway, saw me struggling, then stopped.

"Dude," he drawled, "It might open if you kick it." Then, he walked away. Kicking it, huh? I winded up, pulling my leg back, and kicked. Oof. I felt the metal crunch underneath my foot, and realizing that I had underestimated the strength of the metal, looked down. The locker was open, but with a Fang-foot sized hole in it. _Great. _I stuffed my backpack into my locker and took out my binder to look at my schedule. First period: Art. _Yay._ Creativity for the non expressive one. After I found the room, I searched for anything dangerous, but instead found lots of stuff weird. There were candles lighting up the room. There was a smoke machine spewing smoke everywhere. It was strange, as I was turning to go to the office, hopefully for an elective change; I jumped, for there was a woman standing practically on my heels.

"Helloooo chiillllldrreeenn!" She said creepily. Her wardrobe was no less freaky. Her blue skirt dragged on the floor, and she was wearing a tee shirt and a khaki vest. She had big glasses that magnified her eyes to be reeeealllllyyyy big. (a/n think Trelawney from HP)

"You," She said, pointing at me, "are destined to be a greeeeat artist!" she moaned as if she was in a trance. I shuddered, and then backed away into a corner. As I was sitting down, a Goth girl came over to me, looked me up and down, and smiles.

"Are you taken?" she asked with a smile.

"Yeah," I responded gruffly. "By Max." She frowned.

"So you're gay?" She asked in a whisper.

"No, Max is a girl!" I said with a huff. The obviously gay kid in the corner started crying.

"Dude." The girl said. "You're a lot like us. Come with me." She said, and grabbed my wrist. She led me over to a table in the back near the closet with three other Goth kids.

"Hey guys!" she said. "This is umm… I'm sorry, what's your name?" She said to them, the last part to me.

"Nick." I said plainly, with no emotion.

"Ahh. I'm Sasha." The girl who had walked me over told me. Her hair was in a semi-bob and looked as if it had been bleached and dyed many times. She was wearing black skinnies, sharpied converse, and a paramore electric green tee under a black hoodie. Ok, I admit she's a little more 'hot-topic-ee' than Goth, but still, with her peachy skin and blue eyes, it was interesting to see all that dark and light together. She also had like 6 piercings in each ear. That's a lot (I think). Suddenly, the other girl sitting at the table stood up.

"HI! I'm Ally, short for Allesandrah, spelled A-L-L-E-S-A-N-D-R-A-H. Don't ask why or how I got that ridiculous name, but it's a tragedy." S he rambled on, reminding me a bit of Nudge for a moment, but I then shook the thought, focusing myself to see what she looked like, so I could remember her for help or something. She was an Asian girl, who was only 5'2 probably, so I towered over her. Her black hair was streaked with bright colors, and her bangs were dyed red, but other than that, she was decked out in mostly black, except for the plaid skinny cargo jeans she had, though they were covered up by knee-hi converse. Her top was mostly covered by a hoodie, but from what I could see, it was also black, and seemed to say 'Vampires SUCK'. In her hair was a head band made of… duct tape? With a my little pony taped on it. (a/n no offence to anyone who likes vampires. Also, this character is based on my friend, especially the 'my little pony' duct tape headbands).

"Nice shirt." I said, seeming to interrupt her speech.

"You like?" She said with a sly grin. "Maybe you like me too?" She said, getting closer. I gave her a face, and she slunk back to her seat.

"He's taken." Sasha said with a grimace. "She goes here too."

"Aww! All the cute ones are taken!" She said, disappointed.

"Scott!" Sasha said, causing a kid almost enveloped in the dark of the room to pop his head up from a book. "Scott, Nick. Nick, Scott." She said, pointing to us.

Scott was probably an inch shorter than me. He had blonde hair that covered his eyes, which were a strange color, because I couldn't see them clearly. He was decked out in black, and even had black socks on.

"Hi." I said.

"Hi." He said, before going back to his book. I have no doubt that we'll get along.

Just as I was sitting down, the psycho teacher decided that now was a good time to forget about meditating and to come make me express my 'talent'.

"Ok. Here's an easel, a canvas, and some paint. If I don't have a masterpiece by the end of class, it's an F, and you'll never pass my class! (a/n insert evil laughter here)" She cackled before scampering off into some yoga pose or what not. Around me, the rest of the class was chatting or hanging out. As I stared at the empty canvas in front of me, I searched my mind, looking for something to draw. I took a deep breath and picked up a paintbrush. Reluctantly, I dipped it in the black paint and drew a single, shaky line on the canvas.

"Ok, I'm done!" I shouted to the teacher. How did drawing one line feel? Overwhelming. Was it worth it? I don't know.

After that, I just sat next to Scott, because none of us really had anything to say. When the bell rang, I was rushing out of the classroom, only to hear:

"Stop! That boy is a geeeennnniiiooouuusss!" That teacher seriously had some problems.

My next class was English with Ms. Nagorski. I walked into the room, and mapped out an escape plan. In the far right corner, I saw someone facing the bookshelf. I walked over, thinking they could help me find the teacher.

"Hi. Do you know where the teacher is?" I asked. Wow, this is a really short junior. I tapped the girl on the shoulder… Wait! That's not a girl!

"I am she," She stated, whilst looking me up and down. "And you are?" She asked menacingly.

"Nick Walker." I said, staring at my shoes. Trying to be polite, I stuck out my hand to shake, because she didn't seem like a psycho.

"Ms. Nagorski, pleasure to meet you." She said nicely, and just then, the bell rang. "CLASS! SEATS NOW!" She boomed. I suddenly found myself using instinct, backing into a wall and blending in. How a voice that loud found its way into a body that small, the world will never know. She was like 5'1 and had wavy goldish grayish hair. She was dressed with a hiking outfit. She was probably 40 or 50.

"Class," she repeated, now that they were seated, "This is Nick." She said, pointing her hand in my direction, but her eyes seemed lost. Was I invisible? Crap. I shook my head as I visibleized myself.

"Where is he?" She said confused.

"I'm here." I said, tapping her on the shoulder. She gave a little jump.

"Where are you from?" She said with a big smile.

"Uh… DC." I said.

"Ok, anything you want to say?" She said, nudging me verbally. I heard some girls in the back, obviously 'popular' or whatever, gossiping about me and Max and even Iggy. Only 1 period, and they're already spreading rumors.

"Yeah. I'm not emo." I glared at the two girls in the back, who looked around the room scared.

"Ok then," said Ms. N, noticing the tension, "Nick, why don't you sit next to Isabella over there?" I looked around the room for a hand raised. I saw one, near the left hand side. As I sat down, she smiled a half smile at me before going back to her book. What is it with books and people at this school? I looked at her, knowing that she, only by appearance, could probably be more help than my new friends from art could be. Last time I saw Sasha, (5 min ago) she was trying to give herself a tattoo.

Isabella was small for a junior. She had mid-back length dark brown hair with natural blonde in it that was in frizzy, loose curls. She had blue jeans and a purple top with a dark blue hoodie and black chucks. Her face, with dark brown eyes, was relatively makeup free, aside from chap-stick, which was sticking out of her back pocket.

"Hey." I whispered.

"Hi." She said, and gave me a smile. "I'm Isabella DiStrella."

"Nick."

"Hi, Nick. I can help you find your classes or anything you may need. I kind of fly under the radar, so here's the laydown. Those girls are the popular ones" she said with air quotes."That kid, Scott, and his friends are goth or semigoth or hot-topicy. Jared and Mike over there," she said, pointing to some kids wearing basketball shorts, "are the jocks. Sami and Amanda are in drama with me, but I'm more of a library kid with Lili and Mike." She said pointing to a girl with short auburn hair and a slightly chubby kid who reminded me of a hamster-human hybrid the school had tried to make… (shiver)

"Isabella!" Ms. Nagorski shouted.

"Sorry Ms. Nagorski, I was just explaining to Nick how the grading policy worked and the class rules" she said so earnestly that I almost believed her.

"Ok, but let's get back to the lesson, ok?" Isabella and I nodded and began to pay attention.

After a few minutes, I leaned over and whispered, "You said you were more of a library kid." She just smiled.


	6. Chapter 6

****

**Ok. I thought I'd mainly focus on Iggy, Max, and Fang, but I'll occasionally switch over to Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy. OK? **

Iggy POV

Let's see? I'm having a pretty crappy day, huh? Wait. Shh. I hear something.

"So he's blind, but knows nothing? Not even Braille? What is this?"

This was coming from behind a door. Pretty bad door, if you ask me. This woman, who must be pretty mean, was making me feel like crap. I slumped back in my chair, ears barely straining to hear the rest of the conversation.

"Natalie, please. He's a student, it's a challenge, I get it! Please, though, do your best. He needs it. Valencia said he's been through a lot. It was a surgery gone badly. He still remembers seeing." The man sighed. "Do it for me."

There was a long pause, the woman contemplating his words.

"Fine, I'll do it Chuck, but only for you. I'm hoping for a raise too." She said, kidding.

The man chuckled. "I knew you couldn't turn down a challenge."

I heard a door open with a creak and the clicks of heels come my way. I popped my head up and stared in that general direction.

"Hello Jeff! My name is Ms. Perreta! I'm so glad to have you as a student this year. I know we're gonna learn a lot together, OK?" she rattled, cheerily as she could muster up to.

Ugh. I felt like stabbing her.

"Ms. Perreta, with all due respect, Shut up. Stop acting like I'm an idiot 'cause I'm not." I snapped.

Ms. Perreta gasped. "Now Jeff, why would you say a thing like that?" She asked in that really bothersome voice.

"Ms. Perreta, do you understand the concept of being blind?" I whisper shouted. "I heard you. I have probably more skills that could be useful to a blind person than you could teach me." I tried to give her an angry face.

"Well, Jeff," She said in a clipped tone, "that's too bad for the both of us then, because we're stuck together." She let out a huff of approval and stood up. "Shirt or stick?" she asked.

"Stick." I replied glumly, and I pulled out the long white stick. This was going to be a long day.

I walked behind Ms. Perreta, following the sound of her shoes and brushing the stick in front of me, clearing the debris to prevent myself from tripping. Ms. Perreta opened a door and called me over to come in.

"Class," She announced when she closed the door behind me, "This is our new student, Jeff."

The class mumbled a weary 'hi Jeff' and went back to whatever they were doing before.

"Umm… Ms. Perreta? What is everyone doing?"

"Well," Ms. Perreta said, "They are all doing specific activities to help them in the real world. You, though, will be learning to read."

"Yay."

3rd Person POV

"Ok, so what does this mean?" Ms. Perreta asked him.

Iggy's face was strewn with concentration as he ran his callused fingers over the small raised bumps.

"I have no fnicking idea." The teacher sighed. In all 7 years of her teaching, she had never encountered someone as stressing as he was. As hard as this boy, well, teenage boy, tried, he still didn't get it.

"Ok, that was a "B", ok?" She said, patiently and nicely as she could. This was going to be a looong day, she thought, and continued to teach Iggy, or in her case, Jeff, to read.

"Listen," Iggy told Ms. Perreta, exasperatedly, "This is pretty pointless to me. I don't really need to know how to read this." Ms. Perreta just smiled.

"Well, if you don't know, then how will you go to a public restroom without knowing which is which?" She smirked. Iggy, though seemed to have to think about it.

"Well," He said finally, "I'll just ask F- I mean Nick to tell me which is the men's room." He sat back in his chair and smirked.

"Yeah, but what happens when Nick is married and had 2 kids and his wife wants him home helping her instead of his blind brother finding the right bathroom? Grow up Jeff, you'll be on your own one day, no one will be there forever, you know. One day you'll be alone, do you hear me? And No BODY wants to waste their life helping some idiot who refused to learn Braille." She was practically shouting. This little punk thought he could outsmart her now. Ha. She'd like to seem him try.

The other students who heard or saw paid no attention. It happened every time that a new student came. She would break them.

She leaned back in her chair, basking in the glory of a student's defeat. She smiled, knowing that there was no way he could come back.

"You… You call yourself a teacher?" He roared. The other students turned, though the other blind girl couldn't see him, and three of the deaf kids just saw him stand, but they all paid attention.

"You don't know ANYTHING! You don't know me," he shouted. Iggy felt his anger broil over, emotions running strong. "Max cares about me; she would never let that happen. They would never leave me, got that lady? And guess what? I am grown up! I've been through more than you know! I've been, ugh I can't even tell you what I've been through." Iggy took a breath, he wasn't done yet.

Ms. Perreta just stared at him. Maybe this time she'd taken it too far.

"I hate you, you know? Just for saying that. I'm NOT STUPID! NO one would say they're wasting their life with me." Tears were streaming down his face.

Ms. Perreta had definitely taken it too far, and she knew it.

"Fang won't, Max won't, Nudge won't, Gazzy won't, Angel won't, no no no."

Ms. Perreta was confused now. Now, Jeff (to her) was speaking nonsense.

"I still remember what it's like to see, *itch." He said, breath on her face.

The blind girl sighed. She wished she could.

"But I'm glad I can't, cause I can't see your ugly face. You should go to hell, or better yet, Tartarus, stuck with all the monsters." He wiped his face. "Don't follow me." He said, and without knocking into anything, ran out into the hallway.

Olive, the blind girl, stood up, as if she could follow him too.

**Sorry about this weird A/N **

**Olive isn't really anyone special yet. Just wait until we know more about her. **


	7. Chapter 7

3rd Person POV

The kids all rushed to lunch, besides Iggy, but we'll catch up with him later.

Max and Fang found each other and hugged for a moment before sitting down.

Soon, though Loretta came to Max.

"Max, what are you doing?" she asked, eying Fang with a look of disgust. Max noticed who the look was directed towards.

"I'm eating Lunch with my BOYFRIEND and my FAMILY." She said. (a/n she's not shouting but she's emphasizing the caps words) As she said this, she saw Nudge walking through the lunch line, and waved to her, who embarrassed slightly, waved back.

Max then, to prove a point, kissed Fang on the lips, a soft kiss, though. No need to get in trouble for PDA on the first day.

Now, hold it right there. Loretta didn't think Nick (to her) was ugly, or even mildly attractive. In fact, she thought that he was the sexist guy in school. The fact that her boyfriend, Lucas Castillo broke up with her right before winter formal had been on her nerves, but the fact that Max was going out with Nick, her new soon-to-be boy toy, ruined her good hair day.

Nudge turned back to her friends.

"Who's that girl who waved at you?" Spencer Shay, a hyper girl with brown hair and warm brown eyes asked Nudge. Spencer was super hyper, and super random, as Nudge had already learned. She had blue jean almost mini shorts, a plaid shirt, and cowboy boots.

"Yeah T.C., and who's that boy with her?" giggled Caitlyn Rugby, Spencer's best friend. Caitlyn was a southern belle type girl wearing a light pink, cap sleeved jumper with grey tights and converse that went perfectly with her eyeliner rimmed blue eyes and corn silk hair.

"Oh, she's my sister… Adopted." She hastily added after seeing the looks of disbelief on their faces. She quickly turned and grabbed a banana.

"And the boy is…?" Spencer asked, snatching the banana out of Nudge's hands and putting it in front of her crotch.

"Ha ha. Very funny. That's F-I mean Nick, my older brother." I grabbed a water bottle, turning away from the cafeteria, and heard my new friends gasp.

"What?" I said, turning around, then saw what they were looking at: Max and Fang kissing. Of course that's what they're doing.

"Umm… Technically we aren't related, so… that kinda happened."

Spencer gave us a mischievous laugh. "What else is 'kina happening?' over your place?" She playfully prodded, nudging my ribs while pelvic thrusting, banana still in place.

"Eew, Spencer!" Caitlyn laughed. Nudge and her friends stepped out of the lunch line.

"Hey T.C., are you sitting with us today?" A girl with blonde hair and grey eyes came over to the girls as they walked into the cafeteria. Kourtnee McShriver was tall and lean, like Nudge. She was super friendly and was wearing a floral tunic with black half leggings.

Nudge looked over at Max and Fang, who were looking at her, motioning at her to come over. She sighed. As much as she loved her siblings, this was her chance to make friends.

"Sorry," She told Kourtnee and the girls, "I already said I would sit with my sister.

Nudge sighed. The things she does for family.

Angel walked into the cafeteria in a straight line with her classmates in a row.

"OK class!" her teacher, Ms. Adair, a tall blonde woman that walked with the elegance of a ballerina said, "You have an hour for lunch, and then I want to meet y'all back here. Ok?"

"Yes Ms. Adair!" the class chorused, and then they ran to the lunch line.

Angel grabbed a ham 'n cheese sandwich, a bottle of water, and a cookie.

"MAX!" She yelled, "I missed you ALL DAY!" She jumped into Max's lap and gave the older girl a hug. She really had been bored all day, listening to childish thoughts like, 'I'm hungry' or 'that frog is green, whoa!' or 'Eew! Boys have cooties!'

"Missed you too An-Ariel!" Max said. She really had missed the little girl. "Ugh! I missed you so much baby." She whispered into her ear.

"I missed you too! Don't I get any love?" Fang whined, causing Angel to jump on his crotch, and Fang made a really loud 'oomph'.

"Ouch!" Fang yelled. Max laughed, and he just smirked and muttered, "You won't be laughing tonight…" and Max's face visibly paled.

"Fang, did you say something?" Angel asked innocently, really not knowing if he had said anything.

"Uh… nothing. I said nothing?" Fang said tentatively. Angel nodded and looked straight at Fang's forehead.

*ponies and unicorns, think ponies and unicorns* thought Fang.

"You were thinking on ponies and unicorns?" Angel asked, confused.

"Yeah…" Fang said.

"Hey Zeph!" Isaiah Hart called down the hallway. He was a mixed race kid with tan skin, brown curly hair, and clear (seemingly) brownish eyes. He was following the new kid, Zephyr, who he made friends with 2nd period, when he perfectly imitated the teacher farting.

"Yeah?" Gazzy said, looking behind him. He was hungry and just wanted some lunch, maybe talk to his siblings a bit.

"So… are you busy this weekend?" Isaiah asked.

Gazzy paused. "I don't really know, can I get back to you? I've got to ask my sister."

"What about your parents?" Isaiah thought aloud.

Gazzy's face darkened, and he took a deep breath. "They're dead." He lied, kinda. To him, at least in his mind, his parents are dead.

Isaiah stopped. He hadn't meant to bring that up. "Man, I am so sorry." He said sympathetically, and put his hand on Zephyr's (to him) shoulder.

Gazzy shrugged it off, pissed, and eyes beginning to feel a prickle of tears. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and stormed off.

"Just leave it." He growled, leaving Isaiah in the dust.

Max saw him come in, his face sad and angry, twisted and pained, and automatically knew something was wrong.

"Hon, what's wrong?" She asked him as he sat down.

"A kid asked about my parents." He mumbled.

Max sighed. "I'm sorry." He nodded.

"Just think, though," she said, "you wouldn't be so cool if your parents had kept you." She whispered.

"Yeah, I know." Gazzy whispered back, setting his head on her shoulder.

Ethan Hall was a thin man with hazel eyes and dark brown hair. He had rectangular frames around his eyes and a wedding ring around his left ring finger.

He was sitting in his office, e-mailing the parent of a student, Jesea Malka, who was being bullied. He was explaining the process of how to fix the "problem" when he thought he heard a bump and a whimper.

He stuck his head out the door. A tall boy with blonde hair sat against the lockers, tears on his face.

"Are you alright?" Mr. Hall asked him. The boy shifted, obviously amused.

"Do I look alright?" he said sarcastically. Mr. Hall pursed his lips, not amused.

"Look at me when you're talking, son." He said. The boy laughed, a dry laugh, and turned to face the teacher.

"Why," He said, shaking the hair away from his eyes, "It's not like I can see you anyways." The boy's eyes were clouded over.

Mr. Hall sighed. "Come into my office, let's have a chat."


	8. Chapter 8

**YAY! Y'all like Iggy's little meltdown, dont'cha? Anyways, this is gonna be a fuuun summer! I'm at a summer dance intensive, and can only write when I have time nights or on Sundays. I'll do my best, OK? Also, a lot of this will be in 3****rd**** Person, OK? Also, I'm sorry if Iggy's a little OOC, it's just for a little bit. I'm gonna base this off of my teacher last year, and if you've had him, you'll know me. (haha) **

****

Max was sitting in Mr. Hamcock's US history class passing notes with Fang.

_Max: Hey Fang, where was Iggy lunch? _

**Fang: IDK. **

_Ugh. Ok. I guess I'll just ask him home. _

**Ok. **

As soon as she finished reading what the note said, as if on cue, a messenger came in the room and spoke to the teacher for a second.

"Max, Nick, you're needed in the office for a moment." He said curtly. "Don't die."

Max and Fang knew he was kidding. Mr. Hamcock was a pretty cool teacher. He was like 40 years old. He was in pretty good shape, and taught history in an interesting way. Every year, he started the year by telling his students that "History is blood, guts, and violence!"

He was ADD and OCD, which might not be a good combination for a teacher. One girl, Hannah Morrenote, got detention for running up to him, rubbing his head, and saying "Hey Baldy."

Max and Fang walked behind the messenger, hands finding each other's slowly.

Max's eyes were flitting over the two sides of the hallway nervous. At first she thought that maybe Iggy and Gazzy were in trouble again.

*They're not in trouble Max, but it does involve Iggy* Angel thought to Max.

The trio (Max, Fang, the messenger) walked past the 4th grade hallway.

*Angel, what is it? Why's he in there?* Max asked franticly.

In her class, Angel shuddered. She didn't want to think about it.

*Umm, I can't tell you* Angel mentally sighed *but be prepared*

Fang, on the other hand, was scared. He was (regretfully) wrapped up with Lissa when Max had been called to the office the last time.

He didn't know what to expect. Hopefully, they got called because they won a prize, or saying that they could go home.

****

"Ms. Ride, Mr. Walker?" Principal Palkins asked.

"Yes?" Max replied. Peter Palkins was a 50 year old man with slicked back hair and piercing blue eyes. He was pretty fit, and didn't seem like a 'headhunter' (A/N see book 2).

"I'm here to talk to you about your brother, Jeff" At seeing their mortified faces, he sighed and said, "Take a seat," motioning to the chairs.

"What did he do? I am so sorry, it won't happen again" Max said. She was anticipating him already being in trouble, but not on the first day.

Palkins chuckled. "Ms. Ride, he isn't in trouble." Max breathed a sigh of relief. "I do need to talk about him, though. See, because of his umm, well… Condition." he trailed off. Palkins didn't know how to say this.

"His blindness? Yeah, he's in a class to help him, right?" Fang said. "It isn't gonna change the fact if you refuse to say it. He's been like that for 8 years." Fang said coldly.

"Ok, his blindness. Yes, he is in a special class, but it didn't really work. Ms. Perreta, his teacher, told me that he stormed out of class for no reason

"Here. Why don't we ask Jeff? I'm sure he wouldn't do that. He's a tough guy. He wouldn't do anything like that."

****

"So… What happened?" Mr. Hall asked Iggy. He just looked away.

He was sitting on the couch in Mr. Hall's office. The room was a rectangle, with the desk in the back left corner and there were two chairs sitting in front of it. The couch was in the front right corner with a table in front of it.

"Don't bother trying to hide anything from me. I've gotten complaints about her already."

From there, Iggy went on to tell him about all the stuff that was said.

"…and then, I just left." He finished, and sniffed once. As he did that, Max and Fang walked in.

Max was fuming.

"Who did this? She asked, first to Iggy, then to Mr. Hall.

"You are…?" Mr. Hall asked Max and Fang.

"Max Ride." Max said.

"Nick Walker."

Always the talkative one, huh?

"We're his adoptive siblings. You are?" Max asked cockily.

"Ethan Hall, guidance counselor. You can call me Ethan or Mr. Hall." He said sticking out his hand. Seeing that no one was taking it, he retracted.

Max pulled up a chair and took a seat. Fang followed.

"So, Ethan," Max said, "What do you think happened?"

"Well," he said, "from what I've heard, Ms. Perreta, our umm… special ed. teacher," Iggy huffed "was giving Jeff an introduction to life without you guys to help him, and I believe she may have taken it a little too far."

"She only went a little too far?" Iggy asked in disbelief. "Dude, she went way over. Next time she comes near me, I swear she's gonna get it." He said angrily.

"OK, but I still don't know what happened! Seriously! Some one tell me." Max pleaded.

Iggy began to tell his story, and ended wiping his eyes on the back of his hands.

"If I see her, I'm gonna kick her a"

"Max." Fang interrupted. "Unnecessary."

"Sorry." She told Mr. Hall.

"I think that we can work something out with Ms. Perreta here that is non violent and that is accommodating to our needs." Mr. Hull said, crossing his hands over the desk.

"Hey. Why doesn't he take his classes with me? I'll be like his guide." Fang said.

"Hmm… I had been thinking that too. He would still have to take a life skills class, though."

"Oh just hold it. He isn't going back in that class with that evil bi"

"Max." Fang reminded her, squeezing her leg.

"Sorry." Max said uncaringly.

"Well, he wouldn't be working with her anymore. We have a wonderful woman, Lenny Cannon, who is wonderful, could work with him once a day." Mr. Hall noted.

Max and Fang looked at each other.

"It sounds good to me." Fang said.

Mr. Hall smiled.

"We'll get you a new schedule tomorrow." He said to Iggy. "You can hang in my office until you go home.

Iggy nodded and sat back.

*This should be fun* he thought, and smiled.

****

**Ugh! Sorry! I feel like this was bad. It'll get better I pinkie swear! **


	9. Chapter 9

**No AN… too lazy!**

****

Iggy sat on the couch in Mr. Hall, or Ethan's, office.

"So. What do you plan on doing with me?" Iggy asked.

"Umm… I'm really not sure." Ethan said truthfully. "You can choose, though." Ethan munched on a chip he had pulled from his lunch that he had taken from under his desk. A realization dawned on him.

"Oh! You must be hungry!" Ethan exclaimed.

"No dip Sherlock." Iggy said, rolling his eyes.

"Glad to see you still have a sense of humor. Here, you want to go grab something in the cafeteria?" Ethan asked.

"Sure," Iggy said, standing up. "Which way?"

"I'll tell you when, but it's left, right, left. OK?" Ethan said, pushing Iggy out the door.

****

"Left." He said, and Iggy turned.

A couple more steps.

"Right." Iggy turned right.

A minute later.

"Left, and here we are. Cafeteria." Ethan said, grabbing Iggy's shoulder, turning him towards the line, which was now empty.

****

"Hey Ethan!" said Wanda the lunch lady.

Wanda Snivels was a big African American Lady with big boobs, a curly afro, and a big tummy. She had a deep southern accent. She was always happy and always saved some food for Ethan, knowing that he usually had at least one student with him.

"Hi Wanda! Saved me anything?" Ethan said, coming over to the register with Iggy.

"Of course honey! And who might you be?" She asked Iggy.

"Uh, Jeff Griffiths. Nice to meet you." Iggy told her, facing her.

"Ok, hon, would you like a sandwich? Wanda asked.

"Sure." Iggy said, and she grabbed one and held it out. She stood there and looked at Ethan confused, who had spaced out.

He saw this and grabbed the sandwich out of her hands (nicely) and placed it in Iggy's. His fingers wrapped around the aluminum.

As Ethan led Iggy to his seat, he said, "Let me grab a water bottle. I'll be back." Iggy sat down and he walked back to Wanda.

"What is it with this boy?" Wanda asked in a loud whisper. The register was about 20 feet away from the lunch table.

"He's like Alec." Ethan thought to his own son, only 11, small, sturdy, freckled, and blind.

"Oh." Wanda said, nodding apologetically. "Isn't that Natalie's domain?"

"Hmh. She's why I have him. She went a little too far on her initiation. I found him in the hallway."

****

Wanda knew of Natalie's initiation. Ethan and Wanda were good friends, best friends, even. Ethan's wife Sara, and her were even friends. Ethan confided in Wanda the stories that kids told him. It helped lift a burden off his chest.

Why Wanda, and not Sara? Sara, his beautiful wife, who poured her heart into everything she did? She couldn't handle it. After they learned about Alec's blindness, she was torn apart. She didn't want him to be deprived of anything. Now, he was so limited. She would be ripped to shreds if he shared a lot of sob stories with her.

****

"Natalie's initiation, huh? That woman, no beast, should be fired." Wanda scoffed, turning to the sink and washing a pan.

"Don't you know? I've been trying to get it done, but no one wants the job!" Ethan said, turning back to Iggy.

"You'd be great, Ethan." Wanda said unexpectedly.

"Me, no, of course not!" Ethan said, surprised. He'd never thought about it.

****

Iggy stood from his table and came over to where Ethan and Wanda were, aluminum crumpled in his hand.

"Thanks for the sandwich." He told Wanda.

"No problem, honey!" She said, and added, "If you need anything, find me, ok?

Iggy cracked a small smile. "Will do."

****

Ethan opened the door and led Iggy into his office as the 6th period bell rang.

"So your son's blind?" Iggy asked, plopping onto the couch.

Ethan was taken aback.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" he asked.

"I heard you telling Wanda. Duh." Iggy said nonchalantly.

Ethan was even more surprised.

"How'd you hear? We were at least 20 feet away!" he yelped.

"I have abnormally good hearing. I didn't exactly have a guide as a kid when this happened, so I kinda learned to work with what I had."

Ethan took this as and advantage to probe deeper, and he usually did.

"So, Jeff, what was your situation growing up? You don't live with your birth parents, so what happened?"

Iggy's face darkened. He obviously wasn't talking.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Ethan said, putting a hand on Iggy's shoulder. Iggy flinched away from Ethan. Previously, he hadn't.

"Let's just say they didn't accept me when I came back." Iggy said darkly and turned away, hunched over.

"Jeff, I-…" Ethan began, and then sighed. He knew when enough was enough.

****

"… and you could get, like a voice recorder and that's how you could take notes." Max told Fang during 6th Period, Study Hall in the Media Room.

It was a giant square with computers, Promethian Boards, laptops, cameras, video cameras, projectors, light tables, and music playes.

"Hmm. Sounds fine." Fang said, starting on his English homework. Ms. Nagorski had given a multi paragraph essay comparing a painting versus a book.

"No, seriously!" Max pouted, lightly slapping Fang's bicep.

Just then, Isabella walked over with a boy behind her.

"Hey, Nick!" She said. "Mind if we sit?"

"Huh?" Fang said, popping his head up from the worst book ever, Across 5 Aprils. "Oh. Hey. No problem."

Seeing Max's look, she stuck out her hand. "Hi. I'm Isabella DiStrella." Max looked warily at the outstretched hand.

Seeing the tension, she retracted it, and looked to her left. Seeing the boy next to her, as if she had just noticed him, she said, "Oh! Sorry! This is Jonas Torres, my boyfriend." He smiled shyly, and wrapped a sly arm around her waist.

He was about an inch or 2 smaller than Fang. He had tan skin and curly brown hair.

Noticing that this girl was no threat to her relationship, Max smiled.

"Hi, I'm Max Ride. Nice to meet you."

Isabella and Jonas sat down across from Max and Fang at the square table and began to do their homework.

After a couple minutes, Isabella looked up.

"Hey. You busy this weekend?" She asked Max and Fang.

They looked at each other. "No, I don't think so." Max said.

"Well," Isabella said, brushing her curly bangs out of her face, "Would you like to come to the movies? They're showing X-Men Orgins,"

"First Class" Jonas corrected.

"and we're going, so why don't you two come as well? I mean, Mari and Drew will be there too, and maybe Shiva and Pete, so one more pair won't matter!" She finished, smiling. 

Jonas kinda shrugged.

"We'll have to ask Dr. M, but ok, sounds fine." Fang said, looking first at Max, then at Isabella and Jonas.

"Cool!" Isabella said, and at that moment, the 7th bell rang.

"Ok, well, that's the bell. Bye!" She said, and gave Jonas a quick kiss on the cheek and waved to Max and Fang.

She walked out the door to the right, and Jonas went to the left. Max and Fang looked at each other and walked out the door to the left. They were already overwhelmed with the events of the day.

****

"Hey, you're T.C., right?" A tall blonde girl with blue eyes and long blonde hair to her hips ran up to Nudge.

"Yep, that's me!" Nudge said. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Kailee Shippel, from gym." She reminded Nudge.

"Right… so what's up?" Nudge asked.

"Well, in gym, we were just kinda dancing around, so I was like 'hey, isn't she really good' and my twin Angela was all like 'sure' but she's kinda sarcastic so I ignore her usually but I was wondering if you did ballet?" She said in one breath.

*WOAH!* Thought Nudge, *her rambling matches mine!*

"Well, I always wanted to, but I never got the chance." Nudge answered truthfully. She and Angel were always pestering Max to let her take ballet lessons.

"You really should. We're doing Swan Lake in a few months, and you look like a natural. Here's the address. Class is at 7:00 tonight. You should really come." She wrote down the address on Nudge's binder and ran down the hallway yelling "ANGELA, COME BACK!"


	10. Chapter 10

"So guys, how was school?" Dr. M asked after walking in to the house after work. It was 4:30, and the whole house seemed to be doing something.

"Fine." Max said at the kitchen table, leaned over an Algebra textbook.

Fang just nodded. He was at the computer and when Valencia leaned over, she saw he was typing up an English essay.

"Horrible." Iggy was at the stove and stirring something that smelled amazing. She walked over and sniffed. Mmm… Tomato Soup, his comfort food.

"Booring." Gazzy said, reading a simple looking chapter book.

"Pointless." Angel said. Her homework was to color a picture and describe what it was.

"Amazing! OMG! I can't believe I'd been missing all that!" She was filling out a science safety form.

Valencia smiled.

"Good… Now that that's settled, I guess I should find Ella."

"She's upstairs talking to Devin Richards." Angel piped up.

"Ahh. Ok. Dinner?"

"Soup, on me." Iggy said, waving the spoon and unintentionally scalding Max with a drop of soup, which she sucked off her arm.

"Yum. Tomato." She said.

"Anything else before I go upstairs?" Valencia asked. Nudge ran up to her.

"Dr. M, I was wondering… Can I take a ballet class? Pleas please please pleas please pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?" She pleaded, giving Valencia the best puppy eyes she could muster.

Valencia sighed. "Sure. As long as your wings are covered, of course you may."

"YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!" She squealed! "It's tonight at 7, ok?" Her mood suddenly changed.

"Oh my god! I need a leotard, and tights, and shoes, and a skirt, and bun stuff, and OMG! How am I gonna bind my wings?"

**This is a line break!**

"Soup's up!" Iggy called, and Dr. M brought the pot of soup to the table.

They all rushed in and took their seats. As soon as Ella came sauntering down the stairs, the whole flock dug in, and Ella and Valencia began nicely eating.

"So, Max, I heard you're friends with Loretta Larsson." Ella said as if it was a huge feat.

"Yea, so?" Max responded, taking a spoon of the red goodness.

"That's, like, incredible!" She said. Max looked at her, puzzled.

"Really? I don't know why. She's kinda annoying." Ella gasped.

"OMG. You did not just say that. She's, like, amazing." Ella whined.

"I didn't think so." Fang added, causing every one to turn towards him. He usually didn't add any input to the conversation.

"What?" Ella hissed.

"Yeah. She asked me out, basically, so I kinda made it clear that I was with Max." He said slowly, as if he was thinking on what to say.

Valencia almost spit out her soup. "And what exactly did you do to make it clear?" she prodded.

"Just a hug, Mom." Max said, blushing. Gazzy took it as an opening to corrupt the conversation.

"And then, it turned into a session of him feeling up her a" He stated loudly, being cut off with Valencia's "Gazzy!" Ella's "Eew!" Iggy's "Nice!" Max and Fang's blushing, and Nudge covering Angel's ears and saying, "Little minds!"

"Still, Fang, you shouldn't have done that." Ella noted after an awkward silence.

"Why?" He said almost inaudibly.

"Because she can help you get more friends." She commented.

"I have friends." He muttered.

"Friends? More like freaks." She scoffed.

"What do you mean, 'freaks?'" he asked, voice gradually getting louder.

Valencia sat by, carefully observing the predicament. She believed that it would be a more effective parenting technique to let them work it out themselves, but was prepared to break in if things got ugly.

"I mean, they're abnormal. Scott doesn't talk, Ally is too hyper, and Sasha tried to tattoo herself during 2nd period." She said prissily.

"Ella, just mind your own business. I don't care who your friends are, why do you care about ours?" Max observed.

"Because you are officially/unofficially with me, and what you do makes me look either good or bad." Ella sneered.

Valencia inwardly sighed. She had no idea her daughter was becoming so superficial. They would talk about it over coffee.

"Ella, I had no idea you were becoming such a superficial Barbie, not that I know what you look like." Iggy laughed, half sarcastically, half seriously.

During this whole time, Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy kinda sat there.

Gazzy spaced out, thinking about a pretty girl, Makenna Shriver, in his Reading class.

Angel began to dissect the remedial minds of her classmates.

Nudge sat in shock, wondering what had happened to her role model.

As tempers rose, as well as voices, Nudge looked at the time.

"Aww shoot! Dr. M, we gotta be there in 30 minutes!" Nudge pushed back her chair, ran up the stairs, brushed her teeth, and went to her room to get ready. She had received a leotard, shoes, and tights from Ella, who had danced in the past. From Dr. M, though, she had an ace bandage.

She stripped down and pulled on her pink ballet tights. She shook out her wings, then quickly pulled them in as tight as possible. She took the bandage and wrapped it around, starting at the top of her chest and bringing it down to her mid back. She pulled up the leotard and stared at herself in the mirror.

"Not too shabby, Nudge." She mused to herself.

**Sorry for making Ella OOC… I don't hate her THAT much. **


	11. Chapter 11

Nudge walked into the ballet studio speechless. It was better than she had imagined. The first room was an office. It was a rectangle, and on two walls across from each other were comfy looking couches. Across from the door there was a desk behind which a woman sat typing, not seem to notice that she had walked in, with Valencia behind her.

"Hello?" Nudge said, taking a step forward.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" the woman said. She was probably 5'6 and was thin. Her face was round and cinnamon colored with a splash of freckles. She had big brown eyes and straight brown hair that surrounded her face in a neat bob.

"Hi, I'm Marianna Pedrez, but you can call me Anna. I'm the ballet mistress and teacher at Prestige Ballet Academy."

Nudge smiled and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm TC Coleman. I was told there was a class today."

Anna's face lit with recognition. "Right. Kailee told me you'd be coming today. Do you have everything you need?" She asked.

"Yeah. My sister had some stuff I could use for now." Anna smiled and pointed to the door on the left of the desk.

"That's the dressing room. You may put your stuff in there." Nudge smiled and gave Valencia a hug.

"Have fun!" Valencia called, and Nudge waved at her.

"Do I pay you now or later?" Valencia asked. Bringing out her checkbook, but Anna stopped her.

"I have a feeling I may want to evaluate her for a scholarship first. From what I've heard, she may be the receiver." Anna responded.

As she walked through the door, Kailee pounced on her.

Zee line of epic!

"YAY! You made it!" Kailee shouted. Nudge smiled and hugged her back.

"I didn't think you would come, but here you are!" Kailee sang, and Nudge laughed.

"Me neither, but here I am!" Nudge replied, laughing.

"Here. Meet the other girls."

Leah: A slender girl with red hair and gray-green eyes.

Mickey: A girl with an athletic body and brown hair and brown eyes.

Taryn: a skinny girl with white blonde hair and aqua eyes.

Emma Charlotte: a curvy girl (but not fat) with strawberry blonde hair and violet-blue eyes.

Cloris: A small, mousy looking blonde girl with hazel eyes and a big nose.

Angela: Just like Kailee, except she had curly hair.

"Cool. Nice to meet you guys!" Nudge gushed as they got their ballet slippers on and their clothes off to reveal leotards and pink tights underneath.

"Ok, class, to the barre." Anna asked as the girls walked out of the room into the ballet studio.

It was a huge room with a wooden barre across the middle of one side and a floor to ceiling mirror. The walls were mint green, and above the barre was a wide window that spanned the room, letting the evening light in.

"Plie and stretch, plie and stretch, grand plie in first. Port de bras, and repeat in second, fourth, and fifth." Anna said, marking the steps.

Nudge looked at Kailee as if to say 'help!', so she traded places with Nudge.

"Follow me, ok?" She whispered. Nudge nodded, and she put her feet in a 'V', or first position. Alm ost instantly, Nudge began to catch on, at first stumbling along with the moves, but smoothly transitioning into the flow of the steps of the class.

By the end of the class, Nudge was almost like the other girls, catching on quick to the combinations. She was even better than Cloris, who sucked.

After the curtseys, Anna called everyone to sit at the front of the room.

"So, you all know that the ballet production we will be having is Swan Lake." The girls nodded.

"Well, I would like to announce that we are having auditions this Saturday and you are all invited. Nudge, please see me after class. Thank you!" She said, and all the girls clapped as they left the room.

"Nudge, I need to talk to you." Anna said, gesturing for her to come closer.

"Did I do something wrong?" Nudge asked, worried. "I can fix it, I promise you!"

Anna laughed. "No, you've done nothing wrong! In fact, you've done the opposite!" Nudge looked confused. "You are amazing. I can't believe you can do that after only one class!" she gushed, and Nudge blushed.

"Thanks!" She beamed.

"Nudge," Anna said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I normally would never, ever say this, especially after only one class, but I think you're ready to get pointe shoes (**toe shoes**)."

Nudge opened her mouth, and all that came out was "wha wha…"

Anna laughed, and gave her a hug. "Meet me after school tomorrow at the Shoe Basket and I'll help you choose your first pair."

"Oh, thank you so much! It's… It's an honor!" Nudge rushed into the dressing room and started squealing!

"What?" Leah asked, though they had all been at the door eavesdropping.

"I get to buy my pointe shoes!" She exclaimed, and all the girls (except for Cloris) joined in the celebration.

"HEY!" Cloris yelled, jumping on the bench to be seen. "I don't have MY pointe shoes yet!" She stuck her nose in the air.

"It's 'cause you suck." Angela said. She was a person who would say the truth, no matter how mean.

Cloris sat down and huffed. She wasn't a nice person anyways, so no one felt bad for her.

Nudge didn't even notice. She was too busy being happy. Maybe, she'd even be Odette. How ironic would that be?


	12. Chapter 12

**FYI: So you guys know, it takes actually a very long time for someone to earn pointe shoes (toe shoes). Sorry about that, but it was needed for the progression of my story. Thanks to the reviewer who brought it up! 3**

The next day, Max and the gang walked into school again. Iggy was more excited today than he was yesterday because he would get to hang out with Fang and Max instead of Ms. Perreta, the evil woman from the pits of Tartarus.

Iggy grabbed the string from Fang's backpack and discretely followed him to his locker.

"Bye guys!" He heard Max say, and he continued until Fang stopped.

"Gimmie your stuff." Fang said, and Iggy handed him his backpack, which had a binder, a pencil pouch, and a voice recorder.

Fang stuffed the backpack in and handed Iggy the stuff inside, then grabbed his own stuff, snapping every so often, giving Iggy a chance to turn without having to grab Fang's pants (Which today, had a belt in them.).

"First class today is art." Fang said, and Iggy followed him into a room which smelled like laundry scented candles.

"How's this gonna work?" He asked, and Fang shrugged.

"I shrugged." He said, and Iggy nodded.

Fang led him over to the back corner, and introduced him to the group from yesterday.

"Hey guys, this is my kinda brother Jeff. Jeff, this is Sasha, Ally, and Scott." Iggy sighed.

"Would you guys mind telling me your names?" Iggy said. He didn't know who was who unless they used their voices.

After they did, Scott made an interesting observation.

"You're blind." He said.

"No, really? When did this happen?" Iggy said sarcastically, and they all laughed, except for Fang, who kinda smiled.

"Wait a second… this isn't gonna work! Art is a visual class, so if you can't see you might fail, and if you fail, you might cry, and if you cry, you could make me cry, and if I cry my dad gets mad… speaking of which, he's mad at me because I mugh…" She was saying, until a hand was clamped onto her mouth.

"Sorry about her," Sasha sail, wiping her now saliva infested hand on her jeans, "She talks a lot."

"Our sister, TC, does too." Iggy said, thinking of the hours he spent in a crate listening to her talk.

"Cool." She said, and it was an awkward silence, (in which the gay kid celebrated the joyous occasion of his birthday) until the teacher banged the gong.

"Today's assignment will be to draw a self portrait of yourself, due by the end of the class." She said, and strutted off into her closet. (What's going on in there? Hehehe… nothing illegal…)

"F-Nick, help me out!" Iggy whispered to Fang, who had gotten them both paper and pencil.

"Kay, but let me do mine first, then I'll get to you." He replied. "Make it look like you're working, though."

Iggy nodded and began scribbling on the paper.

Fang, on the other hand, decided to actually try and draw well today. You see, he had an idea. What if he drew himself, but as a kid? It would still be a self portrait if he drew that, right?

Fang used a lot of the time doing his, thinking of himself at ten, and getting every single detail right.

After about 45 minutes, he began to work on Iggy, using a completely different style. He drew over the scribbles and sloppily drew him out, but more cartoony, less realistically.

"Thanks, man, you saved me back in there!" Iggy said to Fang as they walked out, handing the teacher their work.

"No prob."

**Line…**

At study hall, Iggy sat across from Max and Fang, who were pouring over their textbooks. He, on the other hand, was relaxing while listening to his notes. His feet were on the table and every once in a while, he'd flick his foot and shuffle Max's meticulously organized papers.

"Sorry!" He would say jokingly, in turn being slapped. He was sure his shins had hand shaped bruises under his dark blue jeans.

As another one of these cycles repeated, he heard footsteps run up to them. He paused his iPod, which held his notes, and listened to the girl who was speaking.

"Hey, guys, I'm sorry. I won't be coming this weekend. That poo face, Jonas, broke up with me, so I won't be at the movie."

Iggy was confused. "Guys… who's that?" He asked Max and Fang.

"Oh, sorry about that. Jeff, this is Isabella diStrella. Isabella, this is my adopted brother, Jeff." Max said.

Isabella smiled. "Hi, Jeff. Nice to meet you!" She said, and stuck out her hand. He didn't respond, so after a few seconds, Fang reached over the table and grabbed his hand, placing it in hers.

"Hi, I'm Jeff, and I'm blind. Pleasure is all mine, and might I add, you have soft hands!" He said, flirting with her, and she chortled.

"Thanks, but I'm done with boys right now." She said, and pulled out the chair next to him and sat.

"Oh really?" he told her, raising his eyebrows. She rolled her eyes.

"She rolled her eyes, Ig- I mean Jeff." Max said, and he laughed. Isabella raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Same old, same old." He said, falsely nostalgic,and propped his feet back up on the table.

"Hey, why don't you come over Friday night? We could play Monopoly." Max said, looking at Fang for approval. When he nodded, she gave Isabella a reassuring smile.

Isabella smiled back, seeming to like the idea.

"Sounds good!"

Iggy placed his hands behind his head and pressed play. Maybe he'd get to know this chick.

**This line is dangerous!**

Iggy let himself into Ethan's office.

"Hi, Jeff." He said, and put down the bag of popcorn he was munching on.

"Hey, Ethan." Iggy said, and sniffed the air. 'Smartpop, really? I prefer Orville Redenbacher."

Ethan was astounded. "How did you know the brand of popcorn I was eating?" He asked, dumbstruck.

Iggy shrugged and nonchalantly plopped his books on the table, then sat down on the comfy couch.

"I don't know, maybe the smell." He said, then slouched into the cushions.

"That's remarkable!" Ethan said, and Iggy snorted.

"You should see me cook!" He said proudly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"You cook?" He exclaimed, and Iggy nodded. "Did you have to cook for your family? Is that why?" He probed, and the mood turned sour.

"It was either that or desert rat. Take your pick." Iggy said darkly, eyebrows furrowed. It was usually desert rat anyways.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make your day turn bad." Ethan said.

'You never do, but it always happens.' Iggy thought, and similar to yesterday, they spent the rest of class in silence.

**This line is inedible…**

Nudge was sitting in front of the store after Fang dropped her off, waiting for Anna at the Shoe Basket.

"Hi, TC, I'm sorry! I got held up at the school today." Anna smiled apologetically. "Are you ready?"

Nudge nodded, and together, they went inside the store.

"Hello?" A scratchy voice moaned. It was an old man, Tom, who owned the store with his livelier wife Joyce. He was tall with a wiry frame, whereas she was plumper with platinum blonde (dyed) curly hair, very different than she had looked as a professional ballerina.

"Hi Tom! It's Anna. I'm here with a student for a pointe shoe fitting." Anna said, finding the old man in the supply closet, poking pins into a voodoo doll.

"I'll get Joyce." He rasped, and stalked off to find his wife. A moment later, a happy looking older woman came out behind the door.

"Hello! You must be TC! Nice to meet you!" She said. She had a pink shirt on and was wearing false pearls around her neck.

"Hi!" Nudge said, and waved.

"Let's get started, shall we?" She said, and grabbed Nudge.

"Here are all the pointe shoes we have." Joyce said, motioning to a wall filled with rows of boxes. "We'll find the right shoe for you, don't worry!"

Nudge tried on every shoe possible. She must have tried every brand: Capezios, Grishko, Gaynor-Midens, Russians, Mirella, Prima-Soft, Leo's, Freeds, Chacott, and Blochs. Nothing seemed to work right, and Nudge was beginning to get discouraged.

"Here, try these!" Joyce said, and Nudge took the box from her hands and slipped the shoes on over the gellow toe pads. They were Bloch Seranades. She put them on and immediately knew they were the ones.

"Wow! These are perfect!" She gushed, and took them off and hugged them to her feet. She handed them to Anna, who took them and paid for them, along with the other stuff she needed. Nudge chatted all the way home about how happy she was to Anna, who didn't seem to mind the endless stream of words coming from her mouth. When they reached her house, Nudge unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Thank you so much, Anna! You don't know how amazing this is!" She squealed.

She jumped out of the car and waved at her until Valencia opened the door.

Anna just smiled. She knew there was a star hidden deep inside.


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry… I had writer's block… Grr…**

On Friday, everyone was rushing around the house making sure that there was no trace of anything genetically mutated at all. The whole house was turned upside down and cleaned for the first guest the flock would have in their new home.

At 7:00, the doorbell rang, and Angel sped to the door to get it.

"Hi, I'm Ariel. Are you Isabella?" She asked, opening the door for Isabella, who waved to her mom in the car.

"Yeah, I am. Are your brothers and sister here?" She asked.

"Uh huh. I'll show you to the kitchen. I think Jeff is making pizza." Angel took her hand and led her towards the kitchen.

"Jeff is making pizza? Are Max and Nick there too?" She asked, and Angel stopped walking. She motioned for Isabella to lean down to her height.

"Max and Nick are" she lowered her voice to a whisper, "making out in her room." Angel made a sour face and Isabella copied hers, just to make her laugh. She stood back up, and Angel finished leading her to the kitchen.

"So then if we mix it with liquid z, then it will cause there to be an atomic reac- Oh, hey… Isabella, right?" Gazzy had been explaining an idea for a new explosive when he noticed Isabella come in.

"Hey, I'm Zephyr. Nice to meet you, and might I add," He said as they shook hands, "you have soft hands."

Iggy choked on the sauce he was tasting, and Angel stifled a giggle while Isabella just shook her head, trying not to smile.

"I think your brother has taught you a little too well. He used that one on me on Tuesday." Gazzy blushed and quickly left the room.

Angel followed him, trying to tease him about the situation.

"Cute kids, huh?" Isabella said once they'd left. Iggy laughed and took the dough out of the fridge. He set it on the counter on top of the flour and began to roll it out.

"Usually."

Isabella went over and touched Iggy's hands. "Hey, Jeff. Can I?" His head came up from leaning over the dough. "you wanna learn from a real Italian?" She joked, and he set down the rolling pin in front of him on the counter.

"Be my guest, oh guest of mine." He said, giving a little half bow.

She smiled, then remembered he was blind, and said, "I'm smiling really big, Jeff." She grabbed the rolling pin and placed his hands over hers.

"Learn from the master chef herself." She said, and she began to roll the dough out. "Rolling pins are for wusses, though, so I use my hands." His hands stayed over hers, and she flattened the dough.

Iggy enjoyed the moment, 'cause he didn't know how long it would last. He wasn't really listening to what she was saying, you know, about the pizza.

Isabella was kinda just talking to fill the silence. She wasn't sure if he was ok with silence because he couldn't see, but if she just kept talking with his hands on hers, she could make it all more comfortable for the two of them.

A couple footsteps down the stairs, and Iggy and Isabella sprung apart.

First in the kitchen was Max, followed shortly by Fang. Max had a lopsided ponytail, and Fang's shirt was lopsidedly buttoned.

"Hey Max!" Isabella said, and went up to give her a hug, but stopped.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Max rubbed her face, and Fang looked very guilty.

"Max, on your neck…" Isabella said, an Iggy went over and ran a hand over her neck.

"A hickey? Great job, Fangles. I'm sure Dr. M will be thrilled." Fang looked positively murderous.

"A hickey, Nick? Really?" Max said to Fang.

Iggy cleared his throat. "Oh Doctoorrr.." he was yelling, before Fang tackled him to the ground.

Isabella screamed as Iggy was pinned down with a hand around his neck.

"Not a word." He growled and Iggy tapped the ground. Fang got up first, then grabbed Iggy's hand to help him up.

"I swear. Cross my heart." Iggy said.

"I would button up your shirt, though." Isabella said, and Fang unbuttoned and rebuttoned his shirt, giving Isabella a glance at his 6-pack through his nimble fingers.

"We'll see you when the pizza's done." Max said, and Fang wrapped a hand around her waist and they left.

"Jeff, does this happen often?" Isabella asked, the two of them going back to the pizza.

"The hickeys? No. Fang's usually more careful than that." In the background, a faint 'ow' was heard.

"See, that was Max's revenge." Iggy poured the sauce over the dough, which was on a baking sheet.

"The wrestling, yes. I usually win, though." He said cockily, and Isabella giggled.

"Sure you do." She answered sarcastically. She put he cheese and he put the pepperoni.

He put it in the oven.

"The temperature is four hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit." The oven said to Iggy.

"That's awesome!" Isabella said, and they left the room for the time for the pizza to bake. He showed her to the living room, where there was a Monopoly board set out for them to play with. Max and Fang were there, and so were Gazzy and Angel.

"Are you two gonna play too?" Isabella asked. They nodded.

"We have to wait for T.C., though, 'cuz we're gonna get Ella to play too." Angel said. "Ella is Max's real sister. Like, by blood sister." Angel told Isabella. She nodded.

"That's fine. Do you play in teams?"

Gazzy answered this one. "Yeah. It's usually Max and Nick, Me and Jeff, and Ariel and TC. But today, I'm Ariel's partner and TC will play with Ella if they play, so you can be Jeff's partner."

Just then, the door slammed open and Nudge walked in.

"Hi FAMILY!" She yelled. "I'm ready to PLAY!"

Isabella was surprised when she saw the owner of the voice. Nudge was wearing booty shorts over pink ballet tights and a crop-top over her leotard.

"I'll be right back to play- Oh! You're Isabella, aren't you?" Isabella nodded. "I've been DYING to meet you."

"I'll be back!" She sang, and she skipped up the stairs.

While they were waiting for Nudge, the oven beeped and Iggy and Isabella stood up.

"I'll get it." They said at the same time.

"How about we all go get it?" Max suggested, so they all got up and went to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Iggy grabbed the pizza out of the oven, Fang grabbed 3 big bottles of soda, Max grabbed four bags of chex-mix, and Angel and Gazzy helped each other set the table.

Ella and Nudge walked in at the end, and they all sat down.

"Ok, guys, start!" Max said, and Isabella was surprised how much they all ate, aside from Ella.

Although there was only enough pizza for everyone to get 2 slices each, the amount of chex-mix and soda everyone ate was enough to feed a football team.

"How are you eating so much?" Isabella asked. She was staring at Angel, who was eating a bowl of chex-mix.

"I have a high metabolism. Do you?" Angel said in-between bites.

"Not really, but I wish I did." Isabella said. Angel nodded, and Ella and Isabella waited while the flock finished eating. When they did, they left their stuff on the table and went back into the living room.

"I call the puppy!" Angel said, so she and Gazzy ran up to the board and claimed the puppy.

"How 'bout the car?" Fang said to Max who shrugged, and he sat with his arm around her waist and put the car on 'go'.

"I want the flying shoe, cause we all know I can fly!" Iggy said, and the flock gave each other worried glances while Isabella threw back her head and laughed.

"Sure you can, Jeff, sure you can." They all laughed (fake laugh) and Nudge and Ella claimed the hat.

After playing for about 15 minutes, the door opened and the sound of high heels came in from the hall.

"Guys, I'm home!" Dr. M came into the living room, and Max untangled herself from Fang to give her a hug. As Max pulled out and went to sit back down, Dr. M grabbed her wrist.

"Max, can I see your neck? I think there's something on it." She said, and began digging through her purse for her glasses.

"Mom, there's nothing there, seriously." She said, and started walking back to her seat on the floor.

Dr. M, glasses on, grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

"Max… Is that what I think it is?" she exclaimed, and Max rolled her eyes while Fang found himself blending into the background.

"Mom, seriously, it's not that big a deal!" She said, and Dr. M touched one bruise on her neck, then looked at the spot where Fang was fading, unintentionally. Isabella was so caught up in the drama that she didn't even notice.

"Uh uh, young man, you are not going to disappear on me this time. Let's go, in my office now." Fang got up and waved goodbye, seeing as he probably would be cowering in his room for the next few hours, and followed the two women into the office.

"Well, our game is over, I guess." Said Gazzy with a frown, and he left the room, followed by the 3 girls.

"Bye, Zephyr, bye girls." Isabella said to the group, and she looked at Iggy, who was staring off into space.

"Jeff?" She said, tapping him on the shoulder. "It's getting late, I better be going home soon."

He looked to where her voice was coming from.

"Isabella. I'm gonna ask you to do two things for me."

She nodded, then realizing he couldn't see her, said "Ok."

"Can I touch your face?" Iggy said, putting a hand out. She grabbed it and put it on her face.

She felt his finger feel her forehead, nose, lips, chin, cheeks, and closed eyes.

When he removed his hand, he came very close.

"Next thing. Call me Iggy. Jeff sounds stupid." He said, leaning beck and smiling at her.

"Ok," she said, smiling back, "then you call me Bella. Deal?" He stuck out his had and she put hers in his.

"Deal."

The two of them went back into the kitchen, where they cleaned up the mess from earlier, and making small talk about anything to everything.

At about 10, two beeps from a car's horn cut the conversation short.

"Oh, Iggy. That's my dad. Sorry to leave you with this mess." She told him, and he just smiled.

"No worries! See ya Monday, _Bella_." He teased. He followed her to the door and led her out.

"Bye, _Iggy_." She called, and he blindly (get it?) waved out to her.

**miniature line.**

Isabella hopped in her dad's car and stifled a laugh as Iggy waved in the opposite direction they were driving.

"What's so funny?" her dad asked, glancing at his daughter while he drove. He was a tall man with formerly black hair, receding and turning grey at the roots.

"Nothing, Papa, it's just that Ig- I mean Jeff was waving in the wrong direction." She smiled at her dad, but he frowned.

"I thought I said no more boys. That last one, Joe, Jonah, whatever, I made an exception, and look where that got you. I… I don't like the way this Jeff kid was looking at you."

His mouth formed a rigid line.

"Dad… he ca" she was saying, but he wasn't done.

"I bet that's the only reason he invited you over. I bet all he did was stare and"

"Dad!" She yelled, catching his attention.

"He's blind. He can't see me!" She shouted. "He invited me over not because of what I look like, but because he thought I was a nice person."

Her father sighed.

"I still don't like him."

"Yeah, Papa, I know."


	14. Chapter 14

**ZOMG! So, school just started, and I'm taking an AP class, as a freshy, so I've had so much homework and since I have to get up at 5:45 every day, I end up falling asleep when I intend to update… I apologize for this, so I will probably be updating this on weekends only for a while. :) On a side note, I met the REAL Fang, who's name, coincidentally, is actually Nick! **

Max and Fang were serious. Deadly serious. That is precisely why they both lay sweating on the bed. He is his boxers, she in a tank top and underwear. The previous make-out session had been the most heavenly thing to ever happen to either one of these two.

"That was… amazing." She panted, rotating her body to face his.

"Yeah." Fang said, his actions mirroring hers. She smiled, face glistening.

In the moonlight, Fang's body which was in front of the window, made him darker than he was. His half folded wings made him seem like an avenging angel.

"Max." He said, pulling her back into the moment.

"Yeah?" She snuggled closer to him, her wings pulled in so she could feel his warmth.

"Your mom really chewed us out tonight." He smiled at her as if to say, what can we do?

"Uh huh." She murmured, beginning to doze off in his arms.

"Max?" He said, knowing she was basically unconscious.

"You know I really love you." He said. She pressed herself closer to him and the corners of his lips turned up. He dropped his head and wrapped an arm around her. He wouldn't rather be anywhere else.

* * *

Morning came in the Martinez house, and around 10:30, the sweet smell of pancakes wafted up through the staircase and under the doorframes. First up was Iggy, obviously, because he was cooking, and Dr. M, who was supervising.

Gazzy was up first, and he yawned as he dragged his feet into the kitchen.

"Morning, Igs, Dr. M." He said, before taking another yawn.

"Hey, how's it going?" Iggy said, peeking up from over the stove.

"Can you make me chocolate chip pancakes?" Gazzy asked, and Dr. M laughed while Iggy shrugged.

"Sure. You just get them for me, ok?" and Gazzy scrambled over to get the beloved chips.

Next awake was Angel, following her brother by a couple minutes.

"Hi!" She said sleepily, giving everyone a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi Angel. How did you sleep?" Dr. M asked, and Angel came over and pressed against her side.

"Hi DMom." she said with a yawn, cuddling closer. Dr. M pulled her into a hug, and Angel closed her eyes, her feet cold on the floor under her nightgown.

Nudge staggered in with a massive bed head.

"mumble mumble Coffee mumble choke Please." Was all that was legible from what she just said. In the mornings, you couldn't really understand anything else. Iggy grabbed the coffee pot from the machine and poured it into a mug, which found itself into Nudge's awaiting hands.

"mm." She noted, with lips and mouth coffee filled. She drank it black, just the way she liked it.

"I'm glad you're conscious now," said Dr. M silvery, and Nudge just smiled.

"Yep, can't live without this junk." She said hoarsely, clearing the sleep from her throat.

"Say, where's Max?" Gazzy said, stroking his chin as if it were a beard. He had an idea of where she was… and where he was. (**you know who he is…**)

"Actually, I don't know." Dr. M said, and glanced up the stairs.

"Fang isn't here either… I guess I kept them up kinda late." She looked towards the stairs again. "I'll go check on Max in a minute. I really don't want to see Fang in his underwear, because I'm assuming its how he sleeps."

As she let go of Angel and started up the stairs, Angel closed her eyes and sent a message to Max.

_Max! Wake up! DMom is coming!_

* * *

Max was in a dream. A wonderful dream, actually. She was just about to kiss him as the priest said the words, when Angel said the words, _Max! Wake up! DMom is coming!_

Max shook herself out of the dream and looked around. She saw Fang lying next to her and smiled, until she heard Angel's voice again.

_Max! Wake up! DMom is coming!_

"Fang, Fang! Wake up!" I whispered urgently, shaking him.

His eyelids fluttered and he opened his eyes and rolled over and leaned closer. Actually, something funny was he really had to lean closer to see her more clearly. He just didn't want to say anything.

You know, Fang had this thing. He never told anyone if he needed help. Even when he almost died from blood loss, he never told. That's why a little thing like working harder to see wasn't such a big deal.

"Morning." He said, and grabbed the back of her head to pull her in. Max almost leaned into it but then remembered the impending situation, and pushed him off the bed with a loud 'oomph.'

"What was that for?" He asked from the side of the bed hidden from the door. He began to sit up, but she shoved him back down.

"My mom is coming!" She whispered again, and his eyes flashed in alarm. Starting at the tips, he began to fade away, and he tucked himself under the bed.

"Max?" Her mom called from outside, trudging up the stairs in her slippers.

"Yeah Mom?" Max responded, pulling on a pair of plaid pants and kicking Fang's clothes under the bed.

"You up?" Dr. M walked into the room and saw Max sitting on her bed, hair mussed by sleep, (seemingly), and smiled. "You want breakfast?"

"Sure, Mom. Thanks. I'll be right down." Dr. M smiled, and left the room, coming down the stairs.

Max and Fang breathed a sigh of relief, and he slid out from under the bed, still invisible, and left the room. Max too left the room, and made her way downstairs.

* * *

Dr. M walked back into the kitchen and took a seat at the kitchen table.

"I think Max and Fang hang out in there so much, that even when he isn't there it still smells like that deodorant… Axe, isn't it?" Dr. M joked, but found herself looking at a serious Angel.

"DMom," Angel said, blue eyes peering through thick lashes, "Fang wears Old Spice, not Axe."


End file.
